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THE GREEN
AND THE
BLUE
THE GREEN
AND THE
BLUE
Naive Ideas to Improve
Politics in the Digital Age

LUCIANO FLORIDI
Yale University
This edition first published 2024
© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

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Set in 9/13pt Ubuntu by Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd, Pondicherry, India
Contents
Prefacevii Chapter 14: The Problem
Acknowledgementx of Leisure Occupation 109

Chapter 1: The Importance Chapter 15: Homo: Faber,

of Naive Ideas 1 Sapiens, Ludens, and
Poieticus120
Chapter 2: The Digital
Revolution9 Chapter 16: A Proxy
Culture128
Chapter 3: The Transition
from Things to Relations 24 Chapter 17: Politics
as Marketing 135
Chapter 4: The Infosphere 41
Chapter 18: Digital
Chapter 5: Fake News 46 Grey Power 142

Chapter 6: Digital Time 49 Chapter 19: The Digital

Gift Economy 148
Chapter 7: The Onlife
Experience56 Chapter 20: Structural
Democracy154
Chapter 8: A Mature
Information Society 65 Chapter 21: Stealth
Democracy162
Chapter 9: The Human
Project71 Chapter 22: Nomos and
Paideia 169
Chapter 10: From the Social
Contract to a Universal Chapter 23: Digital
Trust79 Sovereignty174

Chapter 11: Infraethics 85 Chapter 24: Green and

Blue for a Sustainable
Chapter 12: Human and Preferable Future 188
Interfaces93
Chapter 25: The Value
Chapter 13: Human Dignity 100 of Waste 198

v
 Chapter 26: Climate Change Postscript – The Information
and the Terrible Hope 202 Society in the Time of the
Coronavirus233
Chapter 27: From Self-
Acknowledgements237
regulation to Legislation 207
References239
Chapter 28: Hundred
Index244
Political Theses for a Mature
Information Society 212

vi Contents
Preface
This is a moderately optimistic book about improving politics, understood as
the transformation of the possible into the preferable. It is optimistic because
it looks at the wealth of opportunities to combine green environmental pol-
icies with blue digital solutions to reform capitalism, strengthen democracy,
and pursue a sustainable and equitable human project for the twenty-first
century. However, it is only moderately optimistic because it also highlights
how politics is currently unable to take full advantage of such opportunities.
Finally, it is a book about improving politics, because it regards good politics
as the only means by which we can prevent moderate optimism from degrad-
ing into a frustrated and bitter regret about what humanity could have done
but has failed to achieve.
Liberal democracies require good political strategies to enhance and pro-
mote their potential to help humanity and save the planet. Many countries
are emerging from a protracted social, political, and cultural crisis, which has
affected various aspects of life. The changes in social factors precipitated by
these crises are evident in the fracture of the social pact, above all concerning
intergenerational issues; the reduction and impoverishment of the middle
class; poor social mobility; and inequality of opportunities. The political
aspects are dominated by the collapse of trust in institutions, disputed
forms of sovereignty, populism, nationalism, the personalisation of politics,
and a vast wave of misinformation. The cultural aspects encompass issues
ranging from national identity to immigration, and the role a superpower or
any country may play in a globalised world (and in the European Union, for
Member States). The social, political, and cultural panorama is not encour-
aging. It could be much improved. In this delicate phase of recovery, it is not
essential to be original at all costs or to look for fanciful political solutions.
Governments should not merely imitate each other in finding new universal
answers. They should instead recognise and maximise their specific strengths
while mitigating their weaknesses and identifying potential obstacles to
recovery. In light of this strategy, I hope the ideas presented in this book may
contribute to improving politics.
 In the following chapters, I advocate a politics and economics of care in
opposition to one of consumption. In contrast to the consumerist model, the
framework presented here focuses on the quality of relations and processes,
and hence of experiences, and much less on things and their properties, to
ensure a sustainable environment and develop an equitable information
society for all. Given this broad and inclusive goal, the book is not written for
experts. Instead, it is a text intended for anyone interested in understanding
the present and how to improve it by designing good policies for our future.
For this reason, I have avoided overloading the reader with bibliographical ref-
erences and explanatory notes. I have also explained relevant technical ter-
minology whenever I thought it was worthwhile to do so. But above all, I have
not discussed the “debates” circulating among experts. Instead, I have tried to
address some philosophical questions directly, without recourse to the ques-
tions that philosophers ask themselves. So, this is a book on philosophical
problems, not philosophers’ problems.
As I have argued elsewhere (Floridi 2019), I conceive philosophy as
conceptual design. At its best, philosophy identifies and clarifies fundamental
problems—those with the most substantial consequences, which can have
a positive domino effect if resolved satisfactorily—and articulates, as far as
possible, the best solutions that are factually correct, reasonably persuasive,
and up to date. I have aimed to present these solutions in a logically coherent
manner. They are designed to remain open to reasoned, informed, and tol-
erant discussion because the problems with which philosophy deals are
inherently open.1 Throughout this book, I apply this concept of philosophy to
understand our information society and formulate what I hope is a plausible
proposal for its future improvement. Scholarly or rhetorical trappings weigh
philosophy down unnecessarily, concealing its rational and functional struc-
ture. 2 They are too often distracting, digressive, and unhelpful. I have sought
to avoid them.
The book is divided into twenty-eight chapters and a Postscript. Inevitably,
but also to facilitate reading, I organised them through a linear narrative, with
the first chapter as an introduction and the last as a conclusion. However, the
truth is that Chapter 28 acts as the centre of the book, as if it were a planet

1
For a debate on a short essay containing some of the ideas presented in this book see
(Buchheim et al. 2021).
2
The indirect reference to the Bauhaus is deliberate, see (Forgács 1995).

viii Preface
around which all the other chapters orbit like moons at different distances.
These preceding chapters introduce some ideas that help elucidate Chapter
28 and can be read independently. Anyone in a hurry could head directly to
Chapter 28 and read it before the others. I have structured Chapter 28 into
100 theses to make it easier to critique them more granularly, with the hope
that each reader will find at least some of the theses convincing. In closing, I
have added a Postscript in which I briefly comment on the crisis precipitated
by the COVID-19 pandemic, but only insofar as it relates to the ideas pre-
sented in this book.
Yale, 4 September 2023

Preface ix
Acknowledgement
“The composition of this book has been for the author a long struggle of
escape, and so must the reading of it for most readers if the author’s assault
on them is to be successful – a struggle of escape from habitual modes of
thought and expression. The ideas which are here expressed so laboriously
are extremely simple and should be obvious. The difficulty lies, not in the new
ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up
as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds”.

John Maynard Keynes,

The General Theory of Employment,
Interest, and Money, 1936.
Chapter 1
The Importance
of Naive Ideas
In this book, I offer some ideas1 that I hope may help understand and improve
politics in today’s information society. My ambition is philosophical, namely,
to try to understand and improve the world. That is all. I realise it may seem a
lot, indeed overambitious. But I hope that, instead, it may be interpreted as a
contribution to a far greater, collective effort. Of course, this brings us to the
usual paradox: how significant is a vote or, in this case, a conceptual contribu-
tion? Well, I contend, as much as a grain of sand on the beach: one counts for
nothing, two still for nothing, but millions can make a huge difference, if only
because, without them, there would be no beach. This is the relational value
of aggregation.
While the ideas in this book are philosophical, they are not meant to
be so abstract to the point of being inapplicable. I hope that the ideas I
share will help clarify some practical discussions and may generate some
positive political changes. I have tried to find the appropriate balance bet-
ween politics as a theory of governance and politics as a policy practice.

1
From here onwards, I am talking only about ideas that guide politics rather than about
good ideas in general (e.g., scientific ones).

The Green and The Blue: Naive Ideas to Improve Politics in the Digital Age, First Edition.
Luciano Floridi.
© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2024 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
 Thus, the ideas proposed may be defined as translational, a term I borrow
from ­medicine, which uses the concept of translational research because
even the most fundamental findings of a Nobel Prize winner and the most
applied practice of a family doctor are not disconnected, but are instead
linked by a continuity determined by a shared interest in understanding and
improving human health. Insofar as the ideas in this book can be transla-
tional, they seek to articulate a primary, or rather foundational, reflection,
which can inform clear, strategic guidelines to implement specific political,
legislative, economic, organisational, and technical actions in the future.
I do not claim this as an original idea. Good philosophy has sought to be
translational at least since the time of Socrates. All that was missing was
the label.
Offering ideas to improve politics is inherently a political action. This is even
more the case today. While politics has always been a relational activity that
includes its own negation, such a status is increasingly apparent and under-
stood more widely in our society. Let me clarify.
The idea of politics as a relational activity serves as a central theme of this
book. Now, it is a characteristic of some relational phenomena to internalise
their negation. A few examples can illustrate this point. If you think about it
for a moment, any lack of interaction is still a form of interaction. Likewise,
a lack of communication is itself a mode of communication, because silence
also speaks volumes about who is silent and about what. Similarly, a lack of
information is a form of information because it has a communicative value:
unanswered questions may fail to satisfy our need for an answer but are
still informative in confirming our need to know something. Politics belongs
to these kinds of relational phenomena. Not participating in politics—i.e.,
abstentionism—is still a political act, at least insofar as it involves delegating
to others one’s political power, often in the form of a protest at, or rejection
of, political alternatives that have been offered. It follows that it is an illusion
to think that one may live in a society without being political. If the idea of a
social contract makes any sense (a real conditional, see Chapter 10), we must
acknowledge that it is a contract imposed on every individual at all times, no
matter whether the individual wishes to subscribe to it. Nobody can escape it.
Only solitude can be genuinely apolitical (not solipsism, which is just believing
to be alone, as opposed to really being alone). If a desert island is home to
just two people, like Robinson Crusoe and Friday, politics is already inevitable.
Every friendship is political, and every family is political. Aristotle, then, was

2 The Green and The Blue

partly right in saying that we are all political animals, 2 but in the sense that
trying not to be political means being political nevertheless. He was wrong,
however, to think that we are political actors voluntarily, continuously, and
rightly (not in the sense of “justly”, but in the sense of “in the right way”). All
three of Aristotle’s conditions are somewhat problematic, and today none of
them is satisfied, for the reasons I shall now outline.
First, in all existing democracies, we are political actors involuntarily, i.e.,
against our explicit will, not just unconsciously. This can lead to frustration
and conflict, as it is impossible to escape politics even when we would like to
reject it, for example, because it has disappointed us, and we do not like it.
Civil society is only one side of the coin; the other side is political society. Nei-
ther exists without the other: their separation is inescapably abstract. There-
fore, no one can mark out a private space in civil society without also marking
out some public space in the political society, and vice versa. The illusion
that such a separation is possible does not directly generate monsters, like
the sleep of reason, 3 but it does allow monsters to grow into beasts, such as
political apathy (qualunquismo4) and populism.
Second, in a mature information society (see Chapter 8), we are never
“always-on politically”. 5 Instead, we are increasingly often political actors dis-
continuously (intermittently), on-demand and just-in-time,6 usually when social
attention is called upon to express its opinion, judgement, or preferences.
For this reason, the communication mechanisms of politics are analogous to
the communication mechanisms of marketing, especially in countries where
comparative advertising is allowed (e.g., “this product is better than that
one”). This is simply an observation, not a criticism, and I will return to it in
Chapter 17. Here, I would like to emphasise that political communication and
marketing pursue the same end: to attract or renew, and thus maintain, peo-

2
See Aristotle, Politics (Aristotle 1996).
3
The indirect reference to Goya’s etching is deliberate.
4
On the “Common Man’s Front” (Italian: Fronte dell’Uomo Qualunque, FUQ), also
translated as “Front of the Ordinary Man”, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Common_Man%27s_Front.
5
The indirect refence to (Cellan-Jones 2021) is deliberate. A system is always on if it is
continuously powered, tuned on, and working.
6
The indirect reference to the manufacturing, just-in-time approach is deliberate; see
(Cheng and Podolsky 1996).

Chapter 1: The Importance of Naive Ideas 3

 ple’s attention, be they customers or citizens, on a topic, be it a new product
or a new social or political issue. If this happens often, the result is a constant
renewal of the stimulus, which requires ever more intense doses of attention-
grabbing communication to take effect. For this reason, marketing carefully
considers timing: no one launches a new product randomly, if they can con-
trol the timing of innovation. At least a year or two must be allowed to pass,
so that the habit of the new product takes hold, and its memory is less vivid.
Just look at how often a new iPhone is launched:7 after a while, the old model
is discontinued, at which point it becomes replaceable by the new model.
This has the added advantage that the risk of obsolescence is transferred
from the “old” product to its outdated user. The iPhone does not age—by
default, one refers to the latest model, which is always “new”—instead, it is
the users who age because they still rely on an older model. The iPhone is
always “new” because the latest model is always new, and the pressure is on
the customers to “renew” themselves by buying it. Apple enjoys a self-rein-
forcing leadership position because it has the power to dictate when inno-
vation cycles take place. As long as this cycle is unbroken, the company’s
hegemonic position remains difficult to challenge. Those under pressure from
the competition cannot afford to control the timing of innovation, whether
commercial or socio-political. This is why antitrust laws rightly prevent (or
at least they should) the synchronisation of innovation in the hands of one
or only a few players, and instead promote competition between many. The
same analysis holds in politics. Dictatorial politics is like a market monopoly
controlling any policy’s innovation. However, if politics becomes a constant
pursuit of populist, attention-grabbing consensus, in an unregulated political
market where only laissez-faire options dominate, and competition rules
allow a handful of actors to dictate the “market”, then politics renounces
any control over its renovation agenda. Another move must counterbalance
every move, politicians engage in fight or flight, and no one leads. There is
no becoming accustomed to the political solutions that have been imple-
mented, only familiarisation with how they are communicated. Not all current
politics shares this asynchronism. Nevertheless, the fact remains that while
we depend on the political call to action, we are also beginning to show signs
of addiction to this call. Unless politics shouts, we do not pay attention. The
result is that for us to listen, communication must be of ever-increasing inten-

7
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Timeline_of_iPhone_models.

4 The Green and The Blue

sity, simplification (right down to the repetition of a few, elementary slogans,
like “Brexit means Brexit” or “make America great again”), and novelty (it
does not matter so much what is communicated, but whether that message is
“new” or presented in a “new” way), while all the time normalising emergency
messages (the “crying wolf” effect). The UK’s withdrawal from the European
Union (EU) after the June 2016 referendum (Brexit) is a striking example. The
populist marketing of two problems—chiefly, immigration and the bureau-
cracy of the EU—led to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU being sold by the
Vote Leave campaign as a panacea. The campaign was successful for many
reasons, one of which was that it constantly served to renew an advertising
message disconnected from the real needs or reasonable aspirations of the
consumer-citizens.
To distance oneself from all this, I hope that the following pages may be
read without alarmism and serve to re-evaluate a rhetoric of content (seman-
tics) over one of form (syntax). It is preferable for timing not to be tactical
(i.e., merely reactive to the novelties of the political market), but to maintain
its strategic quality, that is, focused on the design and implementation of the
right human project.
Finally, let us consider Aristotle’s third condition. Aristotle was partly justi-
fied in calling us political animals. Still, we invariably face a problem when we
are called upon to be political actors, insofar as we run the risk of being so in
the wrong way, namely when political power is abused. Power for its own sake
promotes selfish interests and unjustly privileges some people over others.
For all these reasons, it follows that, while politics can never be absent in
any society, it can easily be damaged. The bad politics of populism, nation-
alism, sovereigntism, intolerance, violence, extremism, passive and indif-
ferent abstentionism, and sometimes the mere protest vote, also manifest
a frustration about the impossibility of non-politics. But the more such bad
politics becomes established, the more it remains a political move, and the
more it escalates, eventually occupying all the space of the political dialogue
with negative variants, in a confrontational spiral that ultimately leads to
polarisation. It undermines society’s confidence in its political capacity to
solve problems that require cooperation, solidarity, tolerance, and multi-
partisanship. Today, there is no shortage of good, well-thought-out solutions
to problems because more educated and intelligent people are around than
ever before. The difficulty is finding the right approach to remove the obsta-
cles impeding the implementation of these good solutions. Goodwill is not

Chapter 1: The Importance of Naive Ideas 5

 in short supply but has withdrawn from politics, where it is no longer repre-
sented. This withdrawal is self-defeating and reinforces the vicious circle of
bad politics. By trying not to engage in politics, goodwill only leaves room
for bad politics, which negatively influences how goodwill is exercised. The
­optimism of the heart is eventually joined by the frustration of reason8 at
seeing so many opportunities wasted, so many crucial solutions delayed, and
so many pressing problems exacerbated to the point of becoming unsolvable.
Considering the points just made, the political ideas expressed in this book
are intended to be constructive and impartial, as opposed to destructive and
partisan. This is not for anti-party reasons—as I have argued above, it is well
known that anti-party and anti-political sentiments today form part of the
most widespread party rhetoric and sometimes the most cunning politics. I
offer my ideas to anyone (political forces included) who may find them helpful
as a means by which to improve politics. In other words, the ideas presented
here are open source and unconstrained. They are adaptable by anyone who
wishes to use them, however they see fit, and to the extent that they may
consider them useful. All that remains now is to explain the sense in which the
ideas presented in the rest of the book are “naive”.
The ideas are naive not in the sense that they are empty of “the cunning of
reason”,9 or unaware of the shrewd calculation of expediency or opportunistic
cynicism in the abuse of power. Instead, they have been intentionally emptied
of all this, a posteriori, with disenchantment, but without disappointment.
Another analogy may help to explain the point. Let us consider the difference
between a brand new Moka pot, one that is empty because it has never been
used to make any coffee, and a used Moka pot that has made coffee but has
been cleaned and emptied. It is generally accepted that coffee tastes better
in the used, emptied Moka pot; in other words, the patina of use (the patina
of reflection) improves itself. This is why historical memory is of enormous
value: it is a reminder of the persisting presence of meaning, which requires
a mental life to be appreciated, and not as a mere record of facts, for which,
say, a Wikipedia entry is sufficient. I have emptied the ideas—rendered them
naive, so to speak—to welcome back-in the tenets of good politics, namely
social altruism and solidarity; the intergenerational pact; sustainable care

8
The indirect reference to Gramsci’s “Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will”
is deliberate, see A. Gramsci, “Discorso agli anarchici”, in L’Ordine Nuovo, i (43), 1920.
9
The indirect reference to Hegel is deliberate (Hegel 2019).

6 The Green and The Blue

for the world; a sense of a shared home; civic and ecological responsibility;
political vocation as a service to institutions, to the state, and to an equitable
res publica (but we will see that, today, it is better to speak of ratio publica);
human rights and constitutional values; a cosmopolitan and environmentalist
vision of the human project, understood as the individual and social life that
we would like to enjoy together; and, finally, the very possibility of talking
about good and bad politics. All these moral relations exist within a nexus of
values, as we shall see later.
Today, it takes courage to use the above expressions because political
naivety is too often seen either as the ignorance of incompetent beginners or
as the cunning of cynical politicians. So, many people either deride it or sus-
pect it is mere rhetoric, a feigned attitude behind which other meanings, ambi-
tions, messages, or manoeuvres hide. This coded language can be deciphered
according to the refined art of the most advanced “secondguessology”, a
term that could be used to translate the common Italian word “dietrology”,
namely the “study” of what lies behind (the word is based on the root “dietro”
(behind), a message). People who wish to engage in this kind of second-
guessing can stop reading the book. It is not written for them, because the
book intends to say only what it shows and does not intend to show anything
beyond what it says,10 an aspiration of simplicity that should characterise the
most thoughtful and mature politics. Or, as Paul of Tarsus writes in the Letter
to Titus: “To the pure, all things are pure [Omnia munda mundis]; but to those
who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their
conscience are defiled” (1:15). The defiled should not take offence, but their
punishment is already their very attitude: they will never understand.
My decision to adopt this “naive” approach was the outcome of discussions
and dialogue with experienced individuals (see the acknowledgements at the
end of the book) who have studied the works of Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli,
Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Mill, de Tocqueville, Marx, Weber, Keynes,
Hayek, von Mises, Arendt, Galbraith, Rawls, Berlin, and many others. Yet, ulti-
mately, they have preferred to follow the far-sighted strategy propounded in
Matthew 18:3, although in a secular manner: “unless you are converted and
become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven”.11

10
The indirect reference to Wittgenstein is deliberate (Wittgenstein 2001).
11
New King James Version.

Chapter 1: The Importance of Naive Ideas 7

 Like Ithaca, naivety is the point from which one starts, but also the point to
which one must return after the enriching journey of reflection. Hence, rather
than a lack of judgment, it is sometimes the highest degree of sophistication
to which one can aspire. And if this “forward” return to naivety (as opposed to
a backward, unsophisticated regression) cannot, perhaps, save the soul, it may
at least help politics. Therefore, maybe a less ambitious and more appropriate
title for this book would have been: “ideas that would like to be ‘naive’”.

8 The Green and The Blue

Chapter 2
The Digital
Revolution
Digital technologies, sciences, practices, products, services, and experi-
ences—in short, what we can conceptualise as the digital—are profoundly
transforming the world in which we live and how we conceive of it, that is,
both the realities we inhabit and the ideas we have about these realities. We
are at a stage where this is obvious and uncontroversial. The real questions
about the digital changing the world and our sense of it are why?, how?, and
so what? The answers to these questions are far from trivial and certainly
open to debate. To explain those answers that I find most convincing and to
introduce what I mean by the “digital revolution”, I shall start in medias res, by
addressing exactly how the digital exerts its influence. I hope this will make
it easier to move back to understand the why, and then move forwards, to
address the so what.
The answer to the how aspect is simple: the digital has caused a revolution
by cutting and pasting many fundamental elements of the world and the ways
we think about them. In a moment, I shall provide four concrete examples of
this process. In more abstract terms, the digital-first detaches or decouples
(cutting) aspects of the world, attaches or couples (pasting) them with others,
and sometimes re-attaches or re-couples (pasting back) those parts it cut. This
remodels our corresponding ideas about such aspects, which we have inherited

The Green and The Blue: Naive Ideas to Improve Politics in the Digital Age, First Edition.
Luciano Floridi.
© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2024 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Tanagræans, the Chæroneans, the Orchomenians, the Lebadeans,
and the Thebans: for they thought fit to be reconciled with the
Platæans, and to join their gathering, and to send their sacrifice to
the festival, when Cassander the son of Antipater restored Thebes.
And all the small towns which are of lesser note contribute to the
festival. They deck the statue and take it to the Asopus on a waggon,
and place a bride on it, and draw lots for the order of the procession,
and drive their waggons from the river to the top of Cithæron, where
an altar is prepared for them constructed in the following manner.
They get square pieces of wood about the same size, and pile them
up one upon one another as if they were making a stone building,
and raise it to a good height by adding firewood. The chief
magistrates of each town sacrifice a cow to Hera and a bull to Zeus,
and they burn on the altar all together the victims (full of wine and
incense) and the wooden images, and private people offer their
sacrifices as well as the rich, only they sacrifice smaller animals as
sheep, and all the sacrifices are burnt together. And the fire
consumes the altar as well as the sacrifices, the flame is prodigious
and visible for an immense distance. And about 15 stades lower than
the top of the mountain where they build this altar is a cave of the
Nymphs of Mount Cithæron, called Sphragidion, where tradition says
those Nymphs prophesied in ancient times.
 CHAPTER IV.

T he Platæans have also a temple to Arean Athene, which was

built from the spoil given to them by the Athenians after the battle
of Marathon. The statue of the goddess is wooden but gilt over: the
head and fingers and toes are of Pentelican marble. In size it is
nearly as large as the brazen one in the Acropolis, (which the
Athenians dedicated as the firstfruits of the battle at Marathon,) and
is also the work of Phidias. And there are paintings in the temple by
Polygnotus, Odysseus having just slain the suitors, and by Onatas
the first expedition of Adrastus and the Argives against Thebes.
These paintings are on the walls in the vestibule of the temple, and
at the base of the statue of the goddess is an effigy of Arimnestus,
who commanded the Platæans in the fight against Mardonius and
still earlier at Marathon.
There is also at Platæa a temple of Eleusinian Demeter, and the
tomb of Leitus, the only leader of the Bœotians that returned home
after the Trojan war. And the fountain Gargaphia was fouled by
Mardonius and the Persian cavalry, because the Greek army
opposed to them drank of it, but the Platæans afterwards made the
water pure again.
As you go from Platæa to Thebes you come to the river Oeroe,
Oeroe was they say the daughter of Asopus. And before crossing
the Asopus, if you turn aside and follow the stream of the Oeroe for
about 40 stades, you come to the ruins of Scolus, among which are
a temple of Demeter and Proserpine not complete, and half the
statues of the goddesses. The Asopus is still the boundary between
the districts of Platæa and Thebes.
 CHAPTER V.

T he district of Thebes was they say first inhabited by the Ectenes,

whose king was the Autochthon Ogygus, hence many of the
poets have called Thebes Ogygiæ. And the Ectenes they say died
off with some pestilence, and Thebes was repeopled by the Hyantes
and Aones, Bœotian races I imagine and not foreigners. And when
Cadmus and his Phœnician army invaded the land the Hyantes were
defeated in battle and fled the following night, but the Aones were
submissive and were allowed by Cadmus to remain in the land and
mix with the Phœnicians. They continued to live in their villages, but
Cadmus built the town called to this day Cadmea. And afterwards
when the town grew, Cadmea was the citadel for lower Thebes.
Cadmus made a splendid marriage if, according to the Greek
tradition, he married the daughter of Aphrodite and Ares, and his
daughters were famous, Semele as the mother of a son by Zeus,
and Ino as one of the sea goddesses. Amongst the greatest
contemporaries of Cadmus were the Sparti, Chthonius and
Hyperenor and Pelorus and Udæus: and Echion was chosen by
Cadmus as his son-in-law for his conspicuous valour. About these
men I could obtain no further knowledge, so I follow the general
tradition about the origin of the name Sparti.[48] And when Cadmus
migrated to the Illyrians and to those of them who were called
Enchelians, he was succeeded by his son Polydorus. And Pentheus
the son of Echion had great power both from the lustre of his race
and the friendship of the king, though he was haughty and impious
and justly punished by Dionysus. The son of Polydorus was
Labdacus. He on his death left a son quite a boy, whom as well as
the kingdom he entrusted to Nycteus. The sequel I have already set
forth in my account about Sicyonia, as the circumstances attending
the death of Nycteus, and how the guardianship of the boy and care
of the realm devolved upon Lycus the brother of Nycteus: and the
boy dying also not long after Lycus became guardian for Laius the
son of Labdacus.
It was during Lycus’ second guardianship that Amphion and Zethus
invaded the country with a band of men. And those who were
anxious for the continuance of Cadmus’ race withdrew Laius, and
Lycus was defeated in battle by the sons of Antiope. And during their
reign they joined the lower town to Cadmea, and called it Thebes
from their relationship to Thebe. And I am borne out by the lines of
Homer in the Odyssey:[49]
“Who first gave its towers and seven gates to Thebes, for though
they were strong, they could not dwell in a spacious unfortified
Thebes.”
As to the legend about Amphion’s singing and the walls being built
as he played on his harp, Homer has made no mention of it in his
poems. But Amphion was famous for music, and from his
relationship to Tantalus learnt the harmony of the Lydians, and
added three strings to the lyre, which had previously had only four.
And the author of the poem about Europa says that Amphion was
the first who played on the lyre, and that Hermes taught him how:
and that by his strains he drew stones and animals. And Myro, the
Byzantian poetess who wrote epic and elegiac verses, says that
Amphion first erected an altar to Hermes and received from him the
lyre on it. It is said also that in Hades Amphion paid the penalty for
his railing against Leto and her sons. This punishment of his is
mentioned in the poem called the Minyad, and there are references
in it both to Amphion and the Thracian Thamyris. And when the
family of Amphion was destroyed by pestilence, and the son of
Zethus was slain by his mother for some fault or other, and Zethus
also died of grief, then the Thebans restored Laius to the kingdom.
When Laius was king and wedded to Jocasta, the oracle at Delphi
told him that he would die at the hands of his son, if Jocasta bare
him one. And that was why he exposed Œdipus, who was fated after
all when he grew up to kill his father. He also married his mother. But
I do not think he had any children by her. My authority for this view is
Homer, who in his Odyssey has the following lines.[50]
“I also saw the mother of Œdipus, beautiful Epicaste, who did a
horrible deed, unwittingly marrying her own son, for he married her
after slaying his father, but soon the gods made it publicly known.”
But how could they soon make it publicly known,[51] if Œdipus had 4
children by Jocasta? So they were the children of Euryganea the
daughter of Hyperphas, as is shown by the poet who wrote the
poems called the Œdipodia. Onatas also painted for the people of
Platæa Euryganea dejected at the quarrels of her sons. And it was in
the lifetime and during the reign of Œdipus that Polynices departed
from Thebes, fearing that the curses of his father would be fulfilled:
and he went to Argos and married the daughter of Adrastus, and
returned to Thebes after the death of Œdipus, being sent for by
Eteocles. And on his return he quarrelled with Eteocles, and went
into exile a second time. And having begged of Adrastus a force to
restore him, he lost his army and challenged Eteocles to single
combat. And he and his brother killed each other, and as the
kingdom devolved upon Laodamas the son of Eteocles, Creon the
son of Menœceus ruled as guardian for the boy. And when
Laodamas grew up and took the reins of power, then a second time
the Argives led an army against Thebes. And the Thebans
encamping against them at Glisas, Laodamas slew in the action
Ægialeus the son of Adrastus, but the Argives gaining the victory
Laodamas with those Thebans that were willing to follow him
withdrew the night following to the Illyrians. And the Argives captured
Thebes, and delivered it over to Thersander the son of Polynices.
And when some of those who were going with Agamemnon to the
siege of Troy sailed out of their course, and met with a reverse at
Mysia, then it was that Thersander, who was the bravest of the
Greeks in the battle, was slain by Telephus, and his tomb is in stone
as you drive over the plain of Caicus in the town of Elæa, in the part
of the market-place which is in the open air, and the people of the
country say that funeral rites are paid to him. And after the death of
Thersander, when a second fleet was got together against Paris and
Ilium, they chose Peneleos as their leader because Tisamenus the
son of Thersander was not yet old enough. But when Peneleos was
killed by Eurypylus the son of Telephus, they chose Tisamenus as
their king, the son of Thersander by Demonassa the daughter of
Amphiaraus. And Tisamenus suffered not from the wrath of the
Furies of Laius and Œdipus, but Autesion his son did, so that he
migrated to the Dorians at the bidding of the oracle. And on his
departure they chose as king Damasichthon, the son of Opheltes the
son of Peneleos. His son was Ptolemæus, and his Xanthus, who
was slain by Andropompus in single combat by treachery and not
fairly. And thenceforward the Thebans resolved to entrust their
government to several magistrates, and not to let everything depend
on one man.
[48] Namely, that they were armed men who sprang up from the
dragon’s teeth sown by Cadmus.
[49] Odyssey, xi. 263-265.
[50] Odyssey, xi. 271-274.
[51] Perhaps Pausanias is hyper-critical here. Is he not answered
by the following line in the ὑπόθεσις to Œdipus Tyrannus, λοιμὸς
δὲ Θήβας εἶλε καὶ νόσος μακρά?
 CHAPTER VI.

O f their successes and reverses in war I found the following to be

the most notable. They were beaten by the Athenians in battle,
when the Athenians fought on the side of the Platæans in the war
about borders. They were beaten a second time by the Athenians in
the neighbourhood of Platæa, when they seem to have preferred the
interests of king Xerxes to those of Greece. The popular party was
not to blame for that, for at that time Thebes was ruled by an
oligarchy, and not by their national form of government. And no
doubt if the barbarian had come to Greece in the days when
Pisistratus and his sons ruled at Athens the Athenians also would
have been open to the charge of Medizing. Afterwards however the
Thebans were victorious over the Athenians at Delium in the district
of Tanagra, when Hippocrates, the son of Ariphron, the Athenian
General perished with most of his army. And the Thebans were
friendly with the Lacedæmonians directly after the departure of the
Medes till the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians:
but after the conclusion of that war, and the destruction of the
Athenian navy, the Thebans soon joined the Corinthians against the
Lacedæmonians. And after being beaten in battle at Corinth and
Coronea, they were victorious at the famous battle of Leuctra, the
most famous of all the battles between Greeks that we know of, and
they put down the decemvirates that the Lacedæmonians had
established in their towns, and ejected the Lacedæmonian
Harmosts. And afterwards they fought continuously for 10 years in
the Phocian War, called by the Greeks the Sacred War. I have
already in my account of Attica spoken about the reverse that befell
all the Greeks at Chæronea, but it fell most heavily on the Thebans,
for a Macedonian garrison was put into Thebes; but after the death
of Philip and accession of Alexander the Thebans took it into their
head to eject this garrison: and when they did so the god warned
them of their coming ruin, and in the temple of Demeter
Thesmophorus the omens were just the reverse of what they were
before Leuctra: for then the spiders spun white webs near the doors
of the temple, but now at the approach of Alexander and the
Macedonians they spun black webs. There is also a tradition that it
rained ashes at Athens the year before Sulla began the war which
was to cause the Athenians so many woes.
 CHAPTER VII.

A nd now the Thebans were expelled from Thebes by Alexander,

and escaped to Athens, and were restored by Cassander the
son of Antipater. And the Athenians were very friendly in this
restoration to Thebes, and the Messenians and Arcadians of
Megalopolis also gave their help. And I think Cassander restored
Thebes chiefly out of hatred to Alexander: for he endeavoured to
destroy all the house of Alexander, for he ordered the Macedonians
(who were exceedingly angry with her) to stone to death Olympias
Alexander’s mother, and he poisoned the sons of Alexander,
Hercules his son by Barsine, and Alexander his son by Roxana. Nor
did he himself terminate his life happily, for he was swollen with the
dropsy, and eaten up by worms. And of his sons, Philip the eldest
not long after his accession was taken off by consumption, and
Antipater the next killed his mother Thessalonice, the daughter of
Philip (the son of Amyntas) and Nicasipolis. His motive for putting
her to death was that she was too partial to Alexander her youngest
son. And Alexander invited in Demetrius the son of Antigonus, and
succeeded by his help in deposing his brother Antipater, and
punishing him for his matricide, but seemed in Demetrius to find
rather a murderer than ally. Thus was Cassander punished by the
gods. In his lifetime the Thebans rebuilt all their old walls, but were
destined it seemed to taste great misfortunes still. For they joined
Mithridates in his war against Rome, I think only out of friendship to
the Athenian people. But when Sulla invaded Bœotia panic seized
the Thebans, and they repented, and tried to get again the friendship
of the Romans. But Sulla was wroth with them, and found out other
means of injuring them, and took half their territory on the following
pretext. When he began the war with Mithridates he was short of
money, he collected therefore the votive offerings from Olympia, and
Epidaurus, and from Delphi all that the Phocians had left. These he
distributed among his troops, and gave the gods in return half
Thebais instead of money. The land thus taken away the Thebans
afterwards got back by the favour of the Romans, but in other
respects became thenceforwards weaker and weaker, and in my
time the lower part of the city was quite deserted except the temples,
and the citadel which they still inhabit is called Thebes and not
Cadmea.
 CHAPTER VIII.

A nd when you have crossed the Asopus, and gone about 10

stades from Thebes, you come to the ruins of Potniæ, among
which is a grove to Demeter and Proserpine. And the statues by the
river they call the Potnian goddesses. And at a stated season they
perform other customary rites, and admit sucking pigs into what are
called the Halls: and take them at the same season the year
following to Dodona, believe it who likes. Here too is a temple of
Dionysus Ægobolus (Goat-killer). For in sacrificing to the god on one
occasion the people of Potniæ were so outrageous through
drunkenness that they even killed the priest of Dionysus: and
straightway a pestilence came on them, and the oracle at Delphi told
them the only cure was to sacrifice to Dionysus a grown boy, and not
many years afterwards they say the god accepted a goat as victim
instead. They also shew a well at Potniæ, in which they say if the
horses of the district drink they go mad.
As you go from Potniæ to Thebes there is on the right of the road a
small enclosure and pillars in it: this it is thought is the place where
the earth opened and swallowed up Amphiaraus, and they add that
neither do birds sit on these pillars, nor do animals tame or wild feed
on the grass.
At Thebes within the circuit of the old walls were seven gates which
remain to this day, and all have their own names. The gate Electris is
called from Electra the sister of Cadmus, and Prœtisis from Prœtus,
a native of Thebes whose date and genealogy it would be difficult to
ascertain. And the gate Neiste got its name from the following
circumstance; one of the chords in the lyre is called nete, and
Amphion discovered this chord at this very gate. Another account is
that Zethus the brother of Amphion had a son called Neis, and that
this gate got its name from him. And there is the gate Crenæa, so
called from a fountain. And there is the gate called Highest, so called
from the temple of Highest Zeus. And the sixth gate is called Ogygia.
And the seventh gate is called Homolois, this is the most recently
named gate I think, (as Ogygia is the oldest-named,) and got its
name from the following circumstance. When the Thebans were
beaten in battle by the Argives at Glisas, most of them fled with
Laodamas the son of Eteocles, but part of them shrank from a
journey to the Illyrii, and turned aside into Thessaly and occupied
Homole, the most fertile and well-watered of all the Thessalian
mountains. And when Thersander the son of Polynices restored
them to Thebes, they called the gate by which they entered
Homolois in memory of Homole. As you go from Platæa to Thebes
you enter by the gate Electris, and it was here they say that
Capaneus the son of Hipponous, making a most violent attack on the
walls, was struck with lightning.[52]
 CHAPTER IX.

I think this war which the Argives fought is the most memorable of
all the wars which were fought between Greeks in the days of the
heroes. For the war between the Eleusinians and the Athenians, as
likewise that between the Thebans and the Minyæ, was terminated
by one engagement, and they were soon friends again. But the
Argive host came from the middle of the Peloponnese to the middle
of Bœotia, and Adrastus got together allies from Arcadia and
Messenia. And likewise some mercenaries came to help the
Thebans from Phocis, as also the Phlegyæ from the district of the
Minyæ. And in the battle that took place at Ismenius the Thebans
were beaten at the first onset, and when they were routed fled to the
city, and as the Peloponnesians did not know how to fight against
fortifications, but attacked them with more zeal than judgment, the
Thebans slew many of them from the walls, and afterwards made a
sally and attacked them as they were drawn up in order of battle and
killed the rest, so that the whole army was cut to pieces except
Adrastus. But the battle was not without heavy loss to the Thebans,
and ever since they call a victory with heavy loss to the victors a
Cadmean victory.[53] And not many years afterwards those whom
the Greeks call Epigoni marched against Thebes with Thersander.
Their army was clearly swelled not only from Argolis, but also from
Messenia and Arcadia, and from Corinth and Megara. And the
Thebans were aided by their neighbours, and a sharp fight took
place at Glisas, well contested on both sides. But the Thebans were
beaten, and some of them fled with Laodamas, and the rest were
reduced after a blockade. The epic poem called the Thebais has
reference to this war. Callinus who mentions that poem says that it
was written by Homer, and his view is held by several respectable
authorities. But I think it is of a later date than the Iliad and Odyssey.
But let this account suffice for the war between the Argives and the
Thebans about the sons of Œdipus.
[52] See Æschylus, Septem contra Thebas, 423 sq.
[53] See Erasmi Adagia.
 CHAPTER X.

N ot far from the gates is a large sepulchre to all those who fell in
battle against Alexander and the Macedonians. And at no great
distance they show the place where they say, believe it who will, that
Cadmus sowed the teeth of the dragon that he slew by the well, and
that the ground produced a crop of armed men from these teeth.
And there is a hill sacred to Apollo on the right of the gates, the hill
and the god and the river that flows by are all called Ismenius. At the
approach to the temple are statues of Athene and Hermes in stone,
called gods of the Vestibule, Hermes by Phidias and Athene by
Scopas, and next comes the temple itself. And the statue of Apollo in
it is in size and appearance very like the one at Branchidæ. Whoever
has seen one of these statues and learnt the statuary’s name will not
need much sagacity, if he sees the other, to know that it is by
Canachus. But they differ in one respect, the one at Branchidæ
being in bronze, the Ismenian in cedarwood. There is here also the
stone on which they say Manto the daughter of Tiresias sate. It is
near the entrance, and its name even to this day is Manto’s seat.
And on the right of the temple are two stone statues, one they say of
Henioche the other of Pyrrha, both daughters of Creon, who ruled as
guardian of Laodamas the son of Eteocles. And still at Thebes I
know they choose annually a lad of good family, good looking and
strong, as priest to Ismenian Apollo: his title is laurel-bearer, because
these lads wear crowns of laurel-leaves. I do not know whether all
who wear these laurel crowns must dedicate to the god a brazen
tripod, and I don’t think that can be the usage, for I did not see many
tripods so offered. But the wealthiest lads certainly do offer these
tripods. Especially notable for age and the celebrity of the person
who gave it is that given by Amphitryon, Hercules wearing the laurel
crown.
Somewhat higher than the temple of Apollo Ismenius you will see the
spring which is they say sacred to Ares, who placed a dragon there
to guard it. Near it is the tomb of Caanthus, who was they say the
brother of Melia and the son of Oceanus, and was sent by his father
to seek for his sister who had been carried off. But when he found
Apollo with Melia he could not take her away, so he dared to set the
grove of Ismenian Apollo on fire, and the god transfixed him with an
arrow, so the Thebans say, and here is his tomb. And they say Melia
bare Apollo two sons Tenerus and Ismenius, to Tenerus Apollo gave
the power of divination, and Ismenius gave his name to the river. Not
that it was without a name before, if indeed it was called Ladon
before the birth of Apollo’s son Ismenius.
 CHAPTER XI.

O n the left of the gate called Electris are the ruins of the house
where they say Amphitryon dwelt, when he fled from Tiryns
owing to the death of Electryon. And among the ruins is to be seen
the bridal-bed of Alcmena, which was made they say for Amphitryon
by Trophonius and Agamedes, as the inscription states,
“When Amphitryon was going to marry Alcmena, he
contrived this bridal-bed for himself, and Anchasian
Trophonius and Agamedes made it.”
This is the inscription which the Thebans say is written here: and
they also show the monument of the sons of Hercules by Megara,
giving a very similar account about their death to that which
Stesichorus of Himera and Panyasis have written in their poems. But
the Thebans add that Hercules in his madness wished also to kill
Amphitryon, but sleep came upon him in consequence of a blow
from a stone, and they say Athene threw the stone, which they call
Composer. There too are some statues of women on a figure, rather
indistinct from age, the Thebans call them Sorceresses, and say that
they were sent by Hera to prevent Alcmena from childbirth.
Accordingly they tried to do so, but Historis the daughter of Tiresias
played a trick on them, she cried out in their hearing, and they
thought Alcmena had just given birth to a child, so they went away
deceived, and then they say Alcmena bare a boy.
Here too is a temple of Hercules called Champion, his statue is of
white stone by Xenocritus and Eubius, both Thebans: the old
wooden statue the Thebans think is by Dædalus and I think so too.
He made it, so the story goes, in return for an act of kindness. For
when he fled from Crete the boats he made were not large enough
both for himself and Icarus his son, and he also employed sails, an
invention not known in his day, that he might get the advantage of
the boats of Minos (which were only rowed) by availing himself of a
favourable wind, and he got off safe, but Icarus steering his boat
rather awkwardly it upset they say, and he was drowned, and his
dead body carried by the waves to an island beyond Samos which
then had no name. And Hercules found and recognised the corpse,
and buried it, where now is a mound of no great size, by the
promontory that juts out into the Ægean Sea. And the island and the
sea near it got their names from Icarus. And on the gables Praxiteles
has carved most of the 12 Labours of Hercules, all in short but the
killing of the Stymphelian birds, and the cleansing of the country of
Elis, and instead of these is a representation of the wrestling with
Antæus. And when Thrasybulus the son of Lycus and the Athenians
with him put down the Thirty Tyrants, (they had started from Thebes
on their return from exile), they offered to this temple of Hercules
colossal statues of Athene and Hercules in Pentelican marble, by
Alcamenes.
Near the temple of Hercules are a gymnasium and racecourse both
called after the god. And beyond the stone Composer is an altar of
Apollo Spodius, made of the ashes of the victims. There is divination
there by omens, which kind of divination I know the people of
Smyrna use more than all the other Greeks, for they have outside
their walls beyond the city a Temple of Omens.
 CHAPTER XII.

T he Thebans used of old to sacrifice bulls to Apollo Spodius: but

on one occasion during the festival when the time for the
sacrifice drew nigh, and those who had been sent for the bull did not
come with it, they sacrificed to the god one of the oxen in a waggon
that chanced to be near, and since that time they have sacrificed
oxen employed in labour. They also tell this tradition, that Cadmus
when travelling from Delphi to Phocis was guided on his journey by a
cow which he had purchased from the herds of Pelagon, which had
on each side a white mark like the orb of the moon at the full.
Cadmus and all the army with him were according to the oracle to
make their home where the cow should lie down tired. This spot they
show. There in the open air is an altar and statue of Athene, erected
they say by Cadmus. To those who think that Cadmus came to
Thebes from Egypt and not from Phœnicia this name of Athene
affords refutation: for she is called Onga which is a Phœnician word,
and not by the Egyptian name Sais. And the Thebans say that the
house of Cadmus was originally in that part of the citadel where the
market-place now is: and they shew the ruins of the bridal chambers
of Harmonia and Semele, this last they do not allow men to enter
even to this day. And those Greeks who believe that the Muses sang
at the marriage of Harmonia say that this spot in the market-place is
where they sang. There is also a tradition that together with the
lightning that struck the bridal-chamber of Semele fell a piece of
wood from heaven: and Polydorus they say adorned this piece of
wood with brass, and called it Dionysus Cadmus. And very near is
the statue of Dionysus, made by Onasimedes of brass throughout,
the altar was made by the sons of Praxiteles.
There is also the statue of Pronomus, a man most attractive as a
flute-player. For a long time flute-players had only three kinds of
flutes, for some played in the Dorian measure, and other flutes were
adapted to the Phrygian and Lydian measures. And Pronomus was
the first who saw that flutes were fit for every kind of measure, and
was the first to play different measures on the same flute. It is said
also that by the appearance of his features and the motion of all his
body he gave wonderful pleasure in the theatre, and a processional
song of his is extant for the dwellers at Chalcis near the Euripus who
came to Delos. To him and to Epaminondas the son of Polymnis the
Thebans erected statues here.
 CHAPTER XIII.

E paminondas was of illustrious descent, but his father was very

poor even for an average Theban, and he learnt very carefully
the national education, and when he was quite a stripling went to
school to Lysis the Tarentine, who had been a pupil of Pythagoras of
Samos. And, when the Lacedæmonians were at war with the
Mantineans, Epaminondas is said to have been sent amongst others
from Thebes to aid the Lacedæmonians. And when Pelopidas was
wounded in the battle, he ran great risks to bring him out of it safe.
And afterwards when Epaminondas went on an embassy to Sparta,
when the Lacedæmonians agreed to ratify with the Greeks the
peace known as the peace of Antalcidas, and Agesilaus asked him if
the Thebans would allow the various towns in Bœotia to subscribe to
the peace separately, “Not,” he answered, “O Spartans, until we see
your neighbouring towns setting us the example.” And when war at
last broke out between the Lacedæmonians and the Thebans, and
the Lacedæmonians attacked the Thebans with their own forces and
those of their allies, Epaminondas with part of his army stationed
himself near the marsh Cephisis, as the Peloponnesians were going
to make their attack in that quarter, but Cleombrotus the king of the
Lacedæmonians turned aside to Ambrosus in Phocis, and after
slaying Chæreas, who had been ordered to guard the by-roads, and
the men who were with him, passed by and got to Leuctra in Bœotia.
There Cleombrotus and the Lacedæmonians generally had portents
from the gods. The Spartan kings when they went out to war used to
be accompanied by flocks of sheep, to sacrifice to the gods and to
give them good omens before battles. These flocks were led by a
particular kind of goat that the shepherds called catoiades. And on
this occasion some wolves attacked the flocks but did no harm to the
sheep, only slew the goats. Vengeance is said to have come upon
the Lacedæmonians in consequence of the daughters of Scedasus.
Scedasus lived at Leuctra and had two daughters Molpia and Hippo.
They were very beautiful and two Lacedæmonians, Phrurarchidas
and Parthenius, iniquitously violated them, and they forthwith hung